Railway vehicle truck



y 1944- F. L. ALBEN ET AL 2,349,601

RAILWAY VEHI CLE TRUCK Filed May 14, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l WITNESSES: Flh/lZiNTyO/gs ran 677 0%)? 2 fig nrailmryez y 1944- F 1.. ALBEN ET AL2,349,601

. RAILWAY VEHICLE TRUCK Filed May 14, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a e s I I i2 Q' y 1' wwvvvvvr WITNESSES: F ug 52%| & :2 77% 2; W477 f7? 5 rnar WATTOR Y skilled in the art.

Fntnt wow Frank L. hlben and F. hunger, Wlttw & 1th.,

Pa e, nsslgnors to Westhouse Electric tg lionoportyn lltwt Pittsbur ocorporotlon or Pennsyl newb rns Moy rs, rest, so No. tester (m. Els-211%) Our invention relates, generally, to truck struc= o one.

tures one, more pnrtlculorly, to trucks for rollwny vehicles.

An object or our invention, generally stated,

is to provide n rollwoy vehicle truck structurewhich shall be simple endemcient in operation and which may be economically manufactured.

A more specific object of our invention is to lmprovo the ridingqualities of e rnllwsy vehicle truck, I

Another object of our invention is to reduce the parts or :2, vehicletruck which are subject to wear.

A further object of our invention is to provide in n vehicle truck forat large amount or vertical end loterol flexibility between the cor andthe axles.

Still another object oltour invention is to pro= vide suitable dampingin or vehicle truck in patrol-- lei with the vertical and lateralflexlbllitles thereor to impede tree oscillations of the cor bodysupported by the truck.

A still further object of our invention is to prevent nosingosclllntlons or a vehicle truck during operation of the vehicle.

Another object of our invention is to provide sumcient lateral stabilityin a vehicle truck thatthe car body will not lenn at on uncomfortableangle when rounding a curve at high speed.

Dther objects of our invention will be'explsineol fully hereinafter orwill be apparent to those According to one Mat-t orour invention, eochjournal box of o four-wheel truck is mounted rigidly on lts ownsub-frame, which is hinged to the main truck frame at two points type.

and the small motion at these hin e points is I token by the deflectionof rubber bushings. The weight of the our body is supported on loadingpods spaced o, suficlent distance apart to introduce frictionalrestraint to nosing oscillations The vertical spring system comprisesflexible helical springs between the upper and lower portions of thebolster and comparatively stlfl hell= col springs between the axlebearings and the main truck frame. A ride stabilizer is provided toprevent excessive leaning of 'the car body on curves. Lateralfiexlbllity of the truck is obtamed by supporting the bolster in themain truck frame by me of vertical swing hangers, and both lateral endvertical motions are damped by shoch obsorbers.

For n fuller understanding of the nature and objects or our invention,reference y be bed to the following detslled description taken incontlolly in end elevation, token along the line lL-H of Fig. l, and

hlg. 3 is o view, in side elevation of the truck. structure shown inFig. 1, axportlon oi the main frome being broken away. I J

Referring to the drowlngs and particularly to Fig. l, the vehicle trucl:structure shown therein comprlses o main to lll which is supported byaxles ll end wheels ll of the conventional The oxles ll run in selfaligning antltrlction hearings which are disposed in journal boxes 63.l'tech lournol box It is mounted rigidly in its 0 sub-home M! which ishinged to the main frnme to at two points l5 and lb, thereby petting orlimited mount of vertical movement of the journol box relotive to themain frame. 'E'he small motion at the hln'ge points 9t and to may betoken by the deflection of rubber bushings ttthercby eliminating weer.

In order to rests; l: nosing oscillations Of the truck, the weight ofthe car body 9, only a portion of whlch is shown in Fig. 2, ts supportedon n pair of lending pods ll which are disposed on opposite sides or a,center pin it. and spaced a. consideroble distance Krom the center pin.Loam pods Illa, are provided on the car body and rest on the pods H onthe truck. The loading pods ll and the center pin it are carried by nswing bolster lb which is divided into an upper section ll end o lowersection 2%, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. Since the weight of the corbody is cuppa --1 by the loading pads H and not by the center pin ll, asis the usual arrangement, frlctlonel restraint to nosing oscillations isintroduced by ans of the loading pads ll. The center pin to trnnsmitshorizontal and. tractionol forces only and does not oppose rotationstout any ems.

As shown in s. 2 and 3, the vertical spring trated.

- of the truck. These parts are the Journal boxes 2 The springs are allof the helical type, thereby eliminating friction in the spring system.

In order to damp the vertical movement of the upper section H of thebolster relative to the lower section 22, shock absorbers 26 areconnected 5 ,betweenthe upper and lower sections of the bolster. Theshock absorbers 26 are preferably of the hydraulic, inertia controlledtype, however shock absorbers of other types may be utilized if desired.r

. /In order to prevent an excessive amount of ,leaning of the car bodyon curves resulting from the use of flexible springs, a ride stabilizerbar motion of the truck relative to the car the bar 21 rotates freely inits bearings. However, for rolling or tilting motion of the car body thebar 25 21 must twist. In this manner excessive rolling or tilting of thecar body on curves is prevented.

The lateral flexibility of the truck is obtained by supporting thebolster it in the main frame by means of long vertical swing hangers 32,as shown best in Fig. 2. The upper end of each hanger 32 is rotatablyconnected to the main frame It by means of a bolt 33 and the lower endis rotatably connected to the lower section 22 of the bolster by meansof a bolt 34%.

As shown, the hangers-32 are of the shackle type, that is, they are inone piece and long in the longitudinal direction in order that they cantransmit longitudinal forces from the bolster to the main frame. In thismanner the need for a sliding surface to transmit tractive forces to andfrom the truck frame iseliminated. Flu'ther-- more, by mounting theswing hangers vertically, maximum lateral flexibility is obtained. Thelateral motions of the bolster are damped by shock absorbers 35connected between the main frame Ill andgthe lower section 22 of thebolster, as shown in Fig. 2. v

The main frame Ill is also provided with a plurality of arms 86 formounting a suitable brake rigging on the truck. Since the brake rig- Iging forms no part Of the present invention, it

has been omitted from the drawings in order to avoid unduly complicatingthe structure illusas From the foregoing description, it is apparentthat we havedevised a truckstructure which provides vertical flexibilityby means of Helical springs and lateral flexibility by means of verticalswing hangers. The best type of damping of the vertical andlateral-movements is provided, since the friction of leaf springs iseliminated and hydraulic shock absorbers are utilized.

Furthermore, the present structure provides a means for preventingnosing oscillations of the truck through pads located at a considerabledistance from each other, thus affording more frictional resistance totruck swiveling than does the conventional center pin. A'lateralstabilizer,

Q which resists the objectionable tilting produced '70 vby centrifugalforce on curves is also provided.

The present structure eliminates some parts of the conventional truckwhich ordinarily wear in such a way as to impair the riding qualitiesaeeaeor which usually slide up and'down in perpendicular guides andwhich are replaced in theme:- ent structure by boxes rigidly mounted inauxiliary frames hinged to the main truck frame. Also, the transmissionof longitudinal forces from the swing bolster to the truck frame isaccom-- plished by means of shackle type links which eliminate the needfor direct contact between the swing bolster and the truck transom.

The combination of the soft springs, the lateral stabilizer and theswing links is of particular importance because no one or two of thesefeatures could produce good riding qualities with out the third. Thesoft springs alone Provide vertical and some lateral flexibility butallow tilting on curves. The ride stabilizer eliminates theobjectionable tilting but also reduces the lateral flexibility. Theswing links provide lateral flexibility. Thus, if all three features areused, all the desirable results are obtained and the undesirable onesare eliminated.

Since numerous changes may be made in the above described construction,and diflerent embodiments of the invention may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope thereof,

.it is intended that all the matter contained in the foregoingdescription or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpretedas illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a vehicle truck having a plurality of fournal boxes for supportingwheel axles, in combi- 'nation, a main truck frame, and an individualeach one of the journal boxes, the ends of each sub-frame being hingedto the main frame at opposite sides of the Journal box s upportedthereby, and spring means disposed between each sub-frame and the mainframe.

3. In a vehicle truck having a plurality of journal boxes for supportingwheel axles, in combination, a main, truck frame, an individualsubstantially L-shaped sub-frame for supporting each one of the journalboxes, each sub-frame being hinged to the main frame at pointsdiagonally disposed at opposite sides of the journal box supportedthereby, and rubber bushings disposed in said hinge connections.

4. In a railway vehicle truck having a plurality of Journal boxes forsupporting wheel axles, in combination, a main truck frame, anindividual substantially L-shaped sub-frame for supporting each one ofthejournal boxes, each sub-frame being hinged to the main frame atpoints diagonally disposed at opposite sides of the journal boxsupported thereby, and a helical spring disposed between each journalbox and the main frame.

. 5. In a railway vehicle truck having a plurality of journal boxes forsupporting wheel axles, in combination, a main truck frame, anindividual substantially L-shaped sub-frame for supporting I each one ofthe Journal boxes, each journal box being rigidly mounted in its ownsub-frame, and

g hinged to the main frame each sub-frame bein at points diagonallydisposed at opposite sides of the'iournal box supported-thereby.

6. In a railway vehicle truck having a plurality of journal boxesfor'supporting wheel axles, in combination, a main truck frame, anindividual substantially L-shaped sub-frame for supporting each one ofthe journal boxes, each journal box being rigidly mounted in its ownsub-frame, the ends of each sub-frame being hinged to the main frame attwo points one of which is disposed on each side of the journal boxsupported thereby, and individual spring means disposed between eachsub-frame and the main frame.

FRANK L. ALBEN. BERNARD F. LANGER.

